Voice Post: a bump in the road - PSA up to 10.3

Last Friday, I got the results of my blood test and my PSA has gone up. Um, so last time it was at 4.73 and now it’s at 10.3. Then, I got it re-tested yesterday just to be sure and it’s at 10.2.

So, it’s, um, obviously it’s a big concern for me, and it’s an indicator that I need to change my drug treatment. So after we confirmed that the PSA was still high, uhh, my doctor changed my treatment to remove the Casodex and to add Ketoconazole and hydrocortisone to supplement the cortisones in my body. Because Ketoconazole affects adrenal glands and the two together should balance the amount of natural cortisones in my body to a normal level.

So, this drug has some other side effects that hopefully I will be able adapt to okay.

In this case , what it’s doing is trying to target minute levels of testosterone in my body that adrenal glands produced and that some of the other androgens of the cancer are still able to feed on.

Um you know, it’s definitely a bump in the road but not necessarily an indicator that, you know, all hell is breaking loose. You know, it’s definitely tough and it’s, um, bringing up a lot of thoughts about how long am I going to be healthy and how long am I going to be sick. So, I’m sure I’ll talk more about that later.

The odd thing is I’m still feeling great. You know, I feel, I’m still feeling very physically active. I am experiencing some side effects of Zometa which is a bone strengthener, and I got an infusion of that yesterday and that takes place at an infusion center where you’re in a room – the whole floor of the hospital and you’re in rooms with chairs and IV drips where people come in and get their chemo and other IV treatments. It’s definitely an interesting experience and it’s good to talk with other people who have cancer.

There’s an old man that has had prostate cancer for about seven years now; he seems to be doing well; if one drug stops working, he starts another. His situation is a little different from mine because his cancer hadn’t metastasized so my cancer is still more aggressive.

Nonetheless, I’m going to keep fighting this thing and I intend to win it so hopefully that will be the case. And, not only that, I intend to enjoy my life and live it as healthfully and as long as possible.

The other thing I want to mention is that I know hearing this news is difficult.
Situation for people that are close to me to hear it

Basically I want to be treated like I am healthy. People’s concern about me is expressed differently. I don’t want people to be disingenuous but, like I said I want to enjoy life.
So, anyway, that’s what’s going on with me.

On the upside, we’ve been having a great time planning our wedding. I’m really looking forward to that.

That’s it.
I’ll talk to you all real soon.

A PSA (prostate specific antigen) test is a blood test that looks for a protein that the prostate makes. Normal prostate tissue makes a little bit of PSA, but prostate cancer usually makes much more.”